Wednesday, December 27, 2006

New Additions to the National Film Registry

Librarian of Congress Adds Home Movie, Silent Films and Hollywood Classics to Film Preservation List

Many Americans typically spend the holiday season flocking to movie theaters nationwide. But even as they enjoy the latest releases, vast portions of the nation’s movie heritage are vanishing.

It is estimated that 50 percent of the films produced before 1950, and 80 to 90 percent made before 1920, have disappeared forever. The Library of Congress is working to stanch those losses by recognizing, and working with many organizations to preserve, films that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant.

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today added 25 motion pictures to the National Film Registry (see attached list) to be preserved for all time, bringing the total number of films on the registry to 450.

The films added are:

Applause (1929)The Big Trail (1930)Blazing Saddles (1974)The Curse of Quon Gwon (1916-17)Daughter of Shanghai (1937)Drums of Winter [Uksuum Cauyai] (1988)Early Abstractions #1-5, 7,10 (1939-56)Fargo (1996)Flesh and the Devil (1927)Groundhog Day (1993)Halloween (1978)In the Street (1948)The Last Command (1928)Notorious (1946)Red Dust (1932)Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1971-72)Rocky (1976)sex, lies and videotape (1989)Siege (1940)St. Louis Blues (1929)The T.A.M.I. Show (1964)Tess of the Storm Country (1914)Think of Me First as a Person (1960-75)A Time Out of War (1954)Traffic in Souls (1913)